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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
Wow. I don’t really know where to start with this. I love Rina Kent. Royal Elite is a reread for me, and I was so excited she was doing another NA series… but this was not good.
- this is supposed to be college kids - not even freshman, these characters are supposed to be in their last year, so like 21/22. And yet they all act like immature horribly behaved high school students.
- the author’s understanding of small town life in the US is glaringly lacking. The premise of this book makes it seem like a small town would have a schooling system where the HS and college is somehow a continuous thing… most small towns do not have colleges, besides MAYBE a community college, but those don’t have elite football teams, if they even offer sports. You would be unlikely to have all your HS friends end up at the same college and all be on the cheer and football teams. It just makes no sense at all. It sounds like it’s mixed up with how the school system is set up in Europe. The US is not like that. I’m very confused why Alpha and beta readers didn’t catch that. It was very distracting.
- it’s cool to have a Japanese h, but it’s not cool to have people (grown ups about to enter the workforce, mind you) relentlessly bombard her with racism. And all the references to anime porn… very cringe-y and not super realistic. Maybe a 16 or 17 year old would act that way, but not an entire team of cheerleaders and football players who are 21 or older and working on higher education in the states. It wouldn’t be a monolith of racists and racist enablers.
- this book felt like a watered down version of Untouchable, but missing the charm and heart and just missing the point completely - all of the mechanics, even similar scenes, but none of the depth or nuance.
- the kink was ridiculous. They’ve barely had 2 short conversations and he just *knows* she’d like to pretend to be raped. That’s utter nonsense. They are basically strangers. It would make sense for him to force his own kink on her (but that’s not very PC…), but the way this is written? Nah.
- I love the cliche “bet” trope. I was so excited that this was gonna include that… but it isn’t well executed. Didn’t make sense.
- there’s no build up - no chemistry - no emotion - no glimmer of real affection
- not a single likable character - the h is just self absorbed and bitchy, and the H is just nuts.
- hot sex scenes, and dirty talk, but that’s the only thing here to enjoy and I need more than that
- this is supposed to be college kids - not even freshman, these characters are supposed to be in their last year, so like 21/22. And yet they all act like immature horribly behaved high school students.
- the author’s understanding of small town life in the US is glaringly lacking. The premise of this book makes it seem like a small town would have a schooling system where the HS and college is somehow a continuous thing… most small towns do not have colleges, besides MAYBE a community college, but those don’t have elite football teams, if they even offer sports. You would be unlikely to have all your HS friends end up at the same college and all be on the cheer and football teams. It just makes no sense at all. It sounds like it’s mixed up with how the school system is set up in Europe. The US is not like that. I’m very confused why Alpha and beta readers didn’t catch that. It was very distracting.
- it’s cool to have a Japanese h, but it’s not cool to have people (grown ups about to enter the workforce, mind you) relentlessly bombard her with racism. And all the references to anime porn… very cringe-y and not super realistic. Maybe a 16 or 17 year old would act that way, but not an entire team of cheerleaders and football players who are 21 or older and working on higher education in the states. It wouldn’t be a monolith of racists and racist enablers.
- this book felt like a watered down version of Untouchable, but missing the charm and heart and just missing the point completely - all of the mechanics, even similar scenes, but none of the depth or nuance.
- the kink was ridiculous. They’ve barely had 2 short conversations and he just *knows* she’d like to pretend to be raped. That’s utter nonsense. They are basically strangers. It would make sense for him to force his own kink on her (but that’s not very PC…), but the way this is written? Nah.
- I love the cliche “bet” trope. I was so excited that this was gonna include that… but it isn’t well executed. Didn’t make sense.
- there’s no build up - no chemistry - no emotion - no glimmer of real affection
- not a single likable character - the h is just self absorbed and bitchy, and the H is just nuts.
- hot sex scenes, and dirty talk, but that’s the only thing here to enjoy and I need more than that
I didn’t like this book. It just wasn’t for me.
Everything in this book was fake.
From the beginning I found it confusing how Naomi would call Lucy her best friend. They didn’t really spend much time together and Lucy was completely obsessed with belonging to the cheerleader group that bullied Naomi.
Naomi and Sebastian spend some time together but they don’t really act like they even like each other and they don’t talk. Naomi shares a secret and then they act like they know each other.
Not much else is shown in this book so it doesn’t even feel like they’re in college.
Even though I am a bit curious as to who Naomi’s pen pal is, I just can’t be bothered to read another book to find out.
I don’t think I’ll read any other books by this author or at least I won’t try any until I’ve forgotten about this book.
Everything in this book was fake.
From the beginning I found it confusing how Naomi would call Lucy her best friend. They didn’t really spend much time together and Lucy was completely obsessed with belonging to the cheerleader group that bullied Naomi.
Naomi and Sebastian spend some time together but they don’t really act like they even like each other and they don’t talk. Naomi shares a secret and then they act like they know each other.
Not much else is shown in this book so it doesn’t even feel like they’re in college.
Even though I am a bit curious as to who Naomi’s pen pal is, I just can’t be bothered to read another book to find out.
I don’t think I’ll read any other books by this author or at least I won’t try any until I’ve forgotten about this book.
Omg this was not for me….
Let me just say the racism talk in this book did not bode will with me. With Naomi being of Asian heritage I felt a connection with her in the beginning and then how she stood up to racism I was like “YESS” but it just started to make me too uncomfy in addition to the actual topics that arise between Naomi and Sebastian.
Will look at my notes to try and form a CW list, but for now I’ll say CW: racism, talks/ implications of rape
Let me just say the racism talk in this book did not bode will with me. With Naomi being of Asian heritage I felt a connection with her in the beginning and then how she stood up to racism I was like “YESS” but it just started to make me too uncomfy in addition to the actual topics that arise between Naomi and Sebastian.
Will look at my notes to try and form a CW list, but for now I’ll say CW: racism, talks/ implications of rape
3.5 ⭐️Feels like a high school setting and I don’t like that at all. Not the typical spicy books I read so it has its ups and downs but will read the second book due to the cliffhanger!
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Time for me to give my Review on just Red Thorns.
My suspicions is that Akira is Sebastian. I've said it in my mind from the day one it just makes sense for him to the signs are there. The minute he said Otaku (?) I knew it was him why would he know things about her unless he's her bloody pen pal.
I'm not gonna lie but I think it's time we give the title of most unhinged Rina Kent character to Sebastian Weaver....someone needs to tell Aiden he's been dethroned and that it's time for him to stop being a psychopath, my best man. The whole chasing thing is so strange
My suspicions is that Akira is Sebastian. I've said it in my mind from the day one it just makes sense for him to the signs are there. The minute he said Otaku (?) I knew it was him why would he know things about her unless he's her bloody pen pal.
I'm not gonna lie but I think it's time we give the title of most unhinged Rina Kent character to Sebastian Weaver....someone needs to tell Aiden he's been dethroned and that it's time for him to stop being a psychopath, my best man. The whole chasing thing is so strange
